IXL Social Enterprise Case Studies Education January 2012 | Page 7

Revolutionizing the way to make education affordable for everyone
OLPC had driven costs down but
other viable competitive solutions have
emerged
There are four types of devices that have emerged
as competition for the XO laptop: netbooks,
mobile phones, the Intel classmate (see Table 2
for comparison), and the Aakash tablet.
Netbooks had similar hardware to XOs but
were not built for harsh environments
The XO was instrumental in jumpstarting the

netbook market. However, while netbooks are
smaller and cheaper than laptops, most netbooks
are unable to withstand the physical wear and tear
they would receive from pupils and the generally
harsh environments they would be subjected to
in developing country classrooms; therefore, they
have not emerged as true competitors.
Mobile phones had similar software but had a
small form factor
Many other devices possessed characteristics
similar to those of the XO. Cell phones could

Table 2. Feature Comparison between the XO 1.5 and Classmate

OLPC XO 1.5

By 2011, XO deployments have reached 2.5
Distribution
million the majority of which are in Uruguay,

Rwanda, and Peru.
Price
around $200
Processor
Via C7-M (1 GHz) ULV CPU

7-1/2 inch dual-mode LCD, supporting a
Display
resolution of 1200x900 in monochrome mode

and 800x600 in color mode
Memory
1 GByte DDR2 SDRAM system memory

4 GBytes of NAND Flash memory on

motherboard, 1 MByte of serial Flash
Storage
memory provided separately

for firmware; Expandable through a single

externally accessible SD/MMC memory

card socket
Operating System Linux, Windows, Sugar interface
Weight
1.45-1.58 kg

(3.2 - 3.5 pounds)

Integrated color video camera
Camera
640x480 resolution

Full frame rate (30fps)

Integrated IEEE 802.11/b/g (2.4 GHz)

wireless networking interface;
Network
Ad-hoc and AP mode networking supported;

Capable of network operation when

CPU is powered down

Water and dust proof 80+ key rubber keyboard,
Keyboard
with 1mm stroke

Capacitive touchpad used for pointing device

Directional pad, games buttons integrated
Other features
into the screen bezel; rubber-membrane

keyboard; touchpad supporting stylus input

Nickel-metal hydride, supporting between
Battery
6 and 20 hours operating

Intel Classmate PC

There are about 4 million Classmates that are in
circulation worldwide mostly in Europe and Latin
America, particularly in Portugal and Venezuela.
around $200 - $400
Intel® Atom™ Processor N270 at 1.6GHz
8.9” 1024 x 600 touch screen, Convertible:
traditional or touch-optimized tablet mode
1 GB / 512MB DDR2 256M (Linux only) or
512M SO-DIMM
16G/8G/4G Flash or 1.8” HDD

Windows or Linux
1.25-1.49 kg
(2.8 - 3.3 pounds)
Integrated color video camera
640x480 resolution
Full frame rate (30fps)
10/100M Ethernet WLAN 802.11b/g/n WLAN
with antenna, Mesh support (Linux only),
Security: WPA, WPA-PSK, WPA2, WPA2-PSK

Water-resistant keyboard, Touch pad
(integrated vertical scrolling)
speakers and microphone; an optional
wireless pen device
6-cell battery (6 hours) or 4-cell battery (4 hours),
based on 8.9” LCD and defined brightness,
Wi-Fi off, and camera disabled

Sources: Jack Schofield, “OLPC XO-2 cancelled: tablet will be developed next,” Guardian Technology Blog, November 4, 2009, http:/